Relegation of higehr education in favour of basic education affected Africa

By Isabella Gyau Orhin


Ghana’s current academic year kicked off with more children enrolling for primary school than ever in the past.

However, the same cannot be said of students who wanted to enter the universities.
According to the Ministry of Education, basic school enrolment increased by 16 percent as a result of the Capitation grant and the School feeding programmes.
The University of Ghana however has been cutting down on its admissions due to a number of problems.
Speaking at the March 10, 2007, Congregation, The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, said the major difficulty the University continues to face was attracting young academics to the faculties to replace those retiring.
Inadequate accommodation, for students and lecturers are rife in Ghanaian universities in spite of recent efforts by government to solve the problems.
Experts say the relegation of higher education to the background in favour of basic education in the 1980s and 1990s in Ghana and other African countries has impacted negatively on the development of the continent.
Though Ghana has experienced the influx of private tertiary education, many people are denied access due to he cost.
This state of affairs which is partly as a result of a campaign to push “Education For All” was promoted by key International Institutions including the World Bank and some African governments.
“For most of the last two decades, policy in Africa was influenced by a perception, at the level of government and among international donors that priority should be given to basic education at the expense of higher education,” says Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU).

However in a paper published in 2002, the World Bank noted that tertiary education institutions supported knowledge driven economic growth strategies and poverty reduction by training qualified and adaptable labour force including high level scientists, professionals, technicians, teachers in basic and secondary schools and future government, civil service and business leaders among others.

The Minister of Education Sports and Science, Papa Owusu Ankomah says the rich history of higher education in Africa dates back to the flowering of the Nubian civilization through the great temples of knowledge in ancient Egypt to the era of the great centres of learning in Timbuktu in the middle of hate second millennium.
“Those who understood the role of a university in the greater human setting correctly referred to the scholars of Timbuktu as “ambassadors of peace.’
“Timbuktu was not only a great intellectual centre of the West African civilizations of Ghana, Mali and Songhai but also one of the most splendid scientific centres and contributors to the period described as the European Medieval Renaissance eras.


Speaking at the Second Regional Research Seminar for Africa organized by the AAU and UNESCO on the theme: “The Contribution of Higher Education in National Education Systems: Current Challenges for Africa,” the
Minister said the African higher education system now cannot but be an important and critical part of the overall continent’s renaissance

The Minister explained that during the 1980s and the 1990s, the significance of higher education institutions was played down in favour of basic education and this policy bias, combined with economic difficulties of most African countries at the time led to a weakening of public support for higher education.

This he said happened at a time when demographic pressure was leading to an enrolment explosion in Africa’s higher education institutions.
Some continental bodies including the AAU and a few African bodies resisted the relegation.”
The Minister however said that in the mid 1990s African Ministers of Finance started making a case for higher education.

“We need to remind ourselves that the current situation of the African higher education system is part of a change process, with a past shaped by many factors, a complex and evolving present and a future that can go a number of different ways, depending on factors some of which are within our control,” he said.
In a continent where 43 percent of the population is under 15 years and another 28 percent is between 15 and 30 years of age, the Minister said African leaders are today asserting the right to an independent place of the world and are engaged in efforts to rebuild the continent.

The Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring report, 2006, a study of national education plans from 32 countries show that those in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa placed top priority on achieving universal primary education.
The report also notes that public spending on education as a share of national income increased between 1998 and 2002, and in some cases almost doubling.
The Minister said the desire for a literate society is to improve capabilities of individuals, families and communities to take advantage of health, educational, political, economic and cultural opportunities.

The Minister noted that more than 80 percent of global population over age 15 posses some amount of minimal reading skills. This is against the mid 19th century when only about 10 percent of the world adults could read or write.
It remains the task of intellectuals and continental organizations, such as the African Union, the AAU, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and others in collaboration with development partners such as the UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank, etc to offer solutions to Africa’s problems as well as make a contribution to the renaissance of an African continent that is untied, peaceful, democratic, fully developed, prosperous and a respected member of the world community of nations.

Papa Owusu Ankomah further believes there is the need for Africa’s higher education system to be assisted to link more fully into the global knowledge networks. This would involve easier access of African researchers to global knowledge and greater access of African, scholars to laboratories and experimental sites of best institutions of the world.
This will also involve more North- South collaborative teaching and research projects involving African scholars, in true partnership mode and targeted support aimed at helping renew the African faculty.
“Having fought so hard and so long for it, the AAU considers the elaboration of system-wide approaches to education and national development as one of its abiding concerns as it joins with others in the revitalisation of African higher education,” Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr said.


“In deed we are convinced that higher education can make a significant contribution in achieving the UN millennium Development Goals as well as the EFA targets,” said the Chair of Africa Regional Scientific Committee, Prof. Golam Mohamedbhai.

Source: Public Agenda Ghana